Futures fell 0.6 percent a day after the Agriculture
Department said 39 percent of the harvest has been completed. An
Energy Information Administration report yesterday showed
ethanol production jumped 13 percent as of Oct. 11 from a record
low in January.

“The corn harvest is in full swing,” said Mike Blackford,
a consultant at Intl FCStone in Des Moines, Iowa. “We’re going
to see an increase in production as we move forward.”

Denatured ethanol for November delivery decreased 1.1 cents
to $1.817 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices have
fallen 17 percent this year.

Gasoline for November delivery slipped 3.71 cents, or 1.4
percent, to $2.6167 a gallon on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. The contract covers reformulated gasoline, made to be
blended with ethanol before delivery to filling stations.

Blackford said ethanol prices have been buoyed by a lack of
imports. The U.S. hasn’t made any foreign purchases of the fuel
since Sept. 27, data from the Energy Department’s statistical
arm show.

Corn is the primary ingredient in U.S. ethanol, with one
bushel of the grain making at least 2.75 gallons of the
renewable fuel.

Crush Spread

Corn for December delivery fell 5.75 cents, or 1.3 percent,
to $4.3825 a bushel in Chicago. The crush spread, based on
December contracts for corn and ethanol, was 8 cents, unchanged
from yesterday, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

In cash market trading, ethanol declined 6.5 cents to $2.25
a gallon on the West Coast, 2.5 cents to $2.14 on the Gulf
Coast, 0.5 cent to $2.07 in Chicago and 5 cents to $2.18 in New
York, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Chicago’s discount to New York narrowed 4.5 cents to 11
cents, while the West Coast’s premium to the Gulf slimmed 4
cents to 11 cents.

The EPA tracks compliance with the federal ethanol-use
mandate with Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, tradable
certificates that are attached to each gallon of biofuel.